What can Aristotle say to Bloggers? (Inside and Outside the Enterprise)
by Bill Ives
This post is a bit of a change of pace on a week that is slow in the US given our independence day falling right in the middle. Many bloggers, such as those in this space, write to generate conversations, as well as to convey ideas. Alexander Halavais referred to blogs as “discourse at the boundary between conversation and publication,” in his research paper, Tracking Ideas in the Blogosphere. I think this concept represents some of the tension and power of blogs. They are public conversation, hopefully more lively and personal than normal publication, and more permanent and accessible than normal conversation. So if blogs are closer to conversation than most forms of writing, what lessons can be taken from public speaking that might help bloggers?
Aristotle’s Rhetoric provides three classic requirements of good rhetoric that leads to persuasion: Logos (the logic and coherence of the words themselves), Pathos (the feeling or emotion that the speaker or writer is willing and able to convey), and Ethos (the credibility and trustworthiness of the speaker). These seem quite relevant to the personal nature of most blog writing and are certainly requirements for good blog writing.
As we craft posts that we hope will persuade people (as opposed to simply linking news items along) these three factors (logos, pathos, ethos) should be considered as we craft our words. Will we evoke in the reader a positive response to the logic of our argument? Will they perceive the passion that we hold for our ideas? Does our writing convey the credibility for them to consider issues from our perspective? This is especially important as blogs are often produced by individuals, devoid of a credentialing institution like the New York Times. Even when written from within an institution, they often have the disclaimer that the blog simply represents the view of the writer and not the organization.
This individual perspective can be a good thing and is potentially seen with more credibility than the larger institution, itself, but this is more likely to happen if the writer follows Aristotle’s rules for good rhetoric.
